By 1918, after three years of war, Europe was weary of the stalemate and the terrible slaughter on the Western Front. The Russian Front had collapsed but the United States had abandoned her neutral stance and joined the Allies. So the stage was set for what would be the last year of the Great War. Acclaimed historian Barrie Pitt describes the savage battles that raged unceasingly along the Western Front, and analyses the policies of the warring powers and studies the men who led them. From the German onslaught of 21st March 1918 - the Kaiser's Battle designed to force a resolution before America's armies could tip the balance - through the struggles in Champagne and the Second Battle of the Marne to the turning point in August and final victory, the author gathers together scattered material to make an enthralling book.
Author
Barrie William Edward Pitt was educated at Portsmouth Southern Grammar School before becoming a bank clerk. After service in the Second World War Pitt worked as a surveyor, joined 21 SAS (TA), with whom he rose to the rank of sergeant, and started to write for the magazine Adventure. Pitt also worked for a time as an information officer at the Atomic Energy Authority establishment at Aldermaston, where he demonstrated a talent for turning scientific information into readable prose In 1958, Pitt wrote a novel, The Edge of Battle, and Zeebrugge, an admired account of the First World War raid on the Belgian U-boat base. This led to a long and prolific career as an author and editor of popular histories. Under the overall editorship of Sir Basil Liddell-Hart, he was responsible for the first major part-work, Purnell's History of the Second World War, a 96-instalment mass circulation series which was launched in 1966 at the Imperial War Museum. He also worked as a researcher for the 1960s BBC television series The Great War.
